dsquared37

Welcome to the club!

The only location benefit I derive is walking to Boy Blues Bar across the street.

chad75

Fair warning at checkout a horde of tour groups were arriving and Multiple! whiteboards were spotted in the lobby.

1readyset2go

Something fishy is going on here. I went to book my dates Feb18-21 and they showed standard rooms available, but these could not be booked as SPG Free award nights? I guess they don't want to give away rooms since this is during CNY but still WTH?

UASPG

A new GM will start sometime in December.

1readyset2go

And his replacement is?

UASPG

... coming.

chad75

Don't be coy - when do you start?

UASPG

Who would want to have to deal with all those difficult guests - just read Flyertalk to get an idea how hard the job must be .

I believe that one should look in Bangkok to try to guess the answer to the earlier question.

UASPG

The new General Manager, Rajat Chatterjee, started a few days ago. He came from the Marriott Soi 57 on Sukhumvit in Bangkok.

remymartin

Would be happy to hear how the new GM is treating LMCM and if there's a stark risk of dilution as per the brand mentioned above..

UASPG

I am not convinced that, culturally, Marriott is ready to preserve the identity of the W and Le Meridien brands as they were conceived by Starwood. This last company pretty much reinvented the concept of Le Meridien after they purchased it and I think that overall they did a pretty good job with that Contemporary, European, art & culture and oriented theme.

The GM seems open minded but we will have to wait and see what he does and what Marriott chooses.

For now, what we are starting to see are the new company's standard being implemented:
- no more laundry at any property - pressing only (the WGS had just changed in the other direction)
- snacks at lounges offered all day long, with afternoon tea starting at 2:30 pm and evening hors d'oeuvres at 5:00 pm
- evening cocktails from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm
and more ....

1readyset2go

This is one of the few SPG brands I have not ever stayed at so I am looking forward to it. having said that I am not sure what I will find if my booking experience last month is an indication. The property was withholding award space when they clearly had the standard room available for cash. Probably not a coincidence that this is during CNY. I had to call SPG to alert them in order book my award, which they forced when they saw it. They said they would alert the GM that they were in violation.

dsquared37

I just had 2 nights at the property and while the new GM probably hasn't implemented his changes yet this was my view:

Booked 2 rooms for 3 guests total and was offered a buyup for 1 to the lounge as my plat status was good for the first 2. I didn't remember the lounge being good enough for the 1900++ daily access so we deferred at checkin pending some discussion. In the end the 3rd person wanted in and were willing to pay however neither room's keys had been coded for lounge access so everything had to be re-keyed at the front desk.

Breakfast was better than I remembered from my last stay and there were only a few mosquitoes wending their way under the tables. Staff was omnipresent and competent.

The lounge was setup so guests were limited in self service. No glasses were out so you either scrounged in the unlocked cabinets or needed to ask staff. While the refrigerator was unlocked, there was no bottle opener for the San Pellegrino. The only thing that was self serve drink wise was a bottle of water or can or soda if you didn't want a glass/ice.

Once breakfast was cleared the counter was completely devoid of any food options until tea-time, though I was never in the lounge until 6 for drinks so I can't speak to the offerings. Cocktail time offerings looked limited but I partook only in some drink having had a late lunch both days. No alcohol was self serve.

The lounge seemed short staffed at times mid-day as well. It could take 10 minutes to get a mid-day coffee as the only people in the lounge.

One room had been upgraded to a suite, the other had been allocated as the attached room with single beds. In light of my preferences being 'no connecting doors' and both rooms having been booked as king beds staff was surprised I didn't want connected rooms, one of which with single beds. The odd thing was being locked out of my reservation a few days prior as if it were a BRG. The res showed the same wording about a complicated rate plan etc and there was no way to even go through the BRG workaround to view the reservation. FWIW the reservation was a non-cancellable rate and the SPG agent I spoke with suggested it might have been because room allocation and even room numbers had been set a few days prior potentially causing the lockout. Odd to say the least.

One other note: I do find it humorous that you are handed a hand written entry page each time you drive into the garage with license plate, time entered and a warning that non guests will incur a 500 baht fee however there's never any verification necessary and the little slip is handed back to the attendant unaltered upon exit.

UASPG

We also checked out a few days ago and I did not witness any change to implement the new Marriott standard. They eventually will come to all properties. It definitely started at The Athenee.

As a note, one might be very surprised by the note on the following page:
All day Dining in Chiang Mai | Le Meridien Chiang Mai

CO-PLAT

My Plat arrival letter from yesterday says "You are welcome to enjoy complimentary cocktails at Favola loacted on Level 2 between 18:00 - 20:00 hours. If you are an SPG member, enjoy a 15% discount on dinner at Favola after drinks!